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Hal Mitchell, a Vietnam Veteran who served in the Air Force, receives a certificate and service pin from Rep. Chris Collins in a ceremony at Batavia City Hall today.

Here's a press release about the event:

Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) today hosted a Vietnam War Commemoration Event in Batavia honoring more than 50 Vietnam Era veterans and distributed commemorative lapel pins from The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration. This event was part of a national effort to recognize and thank Vietnam Veterans during the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War.

“As we commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War, the memory is vivid in the minds of these outstanding individuals,” Collins said. “What our nation experienced during that time is unlike any other war, and we hold these Veterans in a very special regard.

"This was an extraordinarily humbling evening and these Veterans have my deepest gratitude for their selfless service.”

In addition to the Vietnam War Commemoration, President Donald Trump officially designated each March 29th as National Vietnam War Veterans Day to honor and thank U.S. Vietnam Veterans and their families for their service and sacrifices.

Approximately 9 million Americans, 7 million living today, served in the military from Nov. 1, 1955 to May 15, 1975. More than 58,000 Americans died while serving during the Vietnam War era.

Collins added: “I was honored to meet so many remarkable men and women this evening and plan to host similar events around my district in the future.”

The Vietnam Veteran Lapel Pin is available to any veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces during the period of Nov. 1, 1955 to May 15, 1975, regardless of location.

Veterans interested in attending future ceremonies should contact Congressman Collins district office at 716-634-2324 or visit chriscollins.house.gov.

Michael Jones

Alfred Rosemark

Robert Gerke

Gordon Crosby

Wayne Eisenhauer

Allen McFollins

Second graders in Ann Marie Starowitz's class at St. Joe's Elementary School threw a surprise Mother's Day party for their mothers today, which included reading short articles form their research projects, three songs, and presentation of gifts.

Stylianos “Steve” Spryopoulos, co-owner of Settler's Restaurant, was found unresponsive on the floor of his neighboring business, Billy Goats, at 7 a.m. today and was later pronounced dead at the age of 66.

Spryopoulos and his wife, Rula, owned and operated Settler's with his son John. He opened Settler's in 1984 and expanded it to seat 150 people in 1995. He opened Billy Goats, a bar and grill, in late 2000.

The Settler's location was originally a Red Barn franchise, opening in 1966 and operated by Mike Bohn until he sold the location to Spryopoulos and a partner.

The restaurant was closed today. It will reopen at 5 a.m., Saturday.

Photo: File photo from Steve's 60th birthday party at Billy Goats.

Press release:

The 20th Annual Batavia Rotary Club High School Tournament will take place tomorrow at Dwyer Stadium.

Due to the threat of rain, there has been a change in the schedule of games.

Attica will play Notre Dame in the first game at 1 p.m followed by Oakfield-Alabama vs. Batavia at 4 p.m. with the championship game scheduled to start at 7 p.m. There will be no consolation game.

Admission is $5 for an adult all-day pass and $2 for a student all-day pass. All proceeds from the tournament will help benefit Batavia Rotary Club charities.

(name redacted upon request; defendant granted youthful offender status, 18, of East Main Street, Le Roy, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, criminally using drug paraphernalia 2ndp and unlawful possession of marijuana. David C. Renteria, 18, of Bernd Road, Pavilion, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, and criminally using drug paraphernalia, 2nd. Eric J. Bratcher, 29, of Pringle Avenue, Batavia, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, and criminally using drug paraphernalia. On Wednesday, Batavia PD conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle on Pringle Avenue. Members of the Local Drug Task Force participated in the traffic stop and found the occupants allegedly possessed crack cocaine, oxycodone, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia. xxxx was also issued traffic citations.

Laura Ann Fronczak, 35, of Lake Street Road, Le Roy, is charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, window tint violation, and unlawful possession of marijuana. Fronczak was stopped at 2:26 p.m. Wednesday on Route 33, Stafford, by Deputy Ryan DeLong.

Press release:

Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) announced that a bill he authored with Congressman Bill Pascrell (NJ-09), the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act, passed the United States Senate. This bill unanimously passed the House on Sept. 12, 2017 and now has unanimously passed the Senate with one amendment offered by Lamar Alexander (R-TN) on May 10.

A 2015 study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that firefighters had a greater number of cancer diagnoses and related deaths than the general population.

This revealed an enormous gap in research, which led Collins and Pascrell to author the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act, which will require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop and maintain a registry to collect data regarding the incidence of cancer in firefighters.

“This is a huge win for firefighters across the United States, now that we are so close to getting this bill on President Trump’s desk,” Collins said. “When this bill becomes law, we will have a succinct and voluntary registry of cancer incidence in firefighters so we know what causes cancer in these individuals and how we can better prevent it.

"These brave men and women put their lives in danger to keep their communities and neighbors safe, and we have a commitment to do everything we can to keep them safe and healthy in return.”

“Passage of the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act in the Senate moves us one step closer to implementing this critical legislation," said Rep. Pascrell, co-chair of the House Fire Services Caucus. "Improving the well-being of firefighters who risk their lives every day to keep our communities safe is an important goal.

"Better understanding any connections between their work and an increased risk for cancer will help mitigate those risks to keep our firefighters healthy. I am hopeful that the House will act swiftly so that we can get a final bill to the White House as soon as possible and we can get the program started.”

When signed into law, the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act would authorize federal funding to gather data about potential risk factors in order to better improve equipment and procedures.

Participation in the registry would be completely voluntary and data collected would include status of the firefighter (volunteer, paid-on-call, or career), number of years on the job, the number of incidents attended, and the type of incidence.

The Firefighter Cancer Registry Act is expected to be passed in the House as amended in the coming weeks before heading to President Trump’s desk.

    Davon S. St. John

Davon S. St. John, not yet even 20 years old, can expect to spend up to the next 15 years of his life in state prison for breaking into residences and stealing items in the City of Batavia.

St. John was sentenced this week on his burglary conviction.

His arrest was the result of an extensive investigation by Det. Thad Mart, Det. Matt Wojtaszczyk, Det. Eric Hill, Det. Rich Schauff, Det. Kevin Czora, Officer Jason Davis, Officer Kevin DeFelice, and Officer Mitchell Cowen.

The 19-year-old Oak Street resident broke into five homes on Ellicott Avenue, Montclair Avenue and Union Street, Batavia.

He entered a guilty plea to burglary April 4.

Over the course of his crime spree, he stole $180 in U.S. currency, an HP laptop, book bag, calculator, butcher knife, Samsung electronic tablet, 2004 Jeep, 40-inch Vizio television, MAC Book Air, Harman Kardon Wireless speakers, MAC Magic mouse, Apple Series 2 watch, Alexa Echo Show, $400 in U.S. currency, silver coins, Halloween candy, four gold chains, a gold dome ring and four blank (bank) checks. 

Once released from prison, St. John will serve five years probation.

It is a driver's responsibility to operate his vehicle in a safe manner, an appeals court has ruled in rejecting a claim by a woman seriously injured in an accident Dec. 8, 2016, in the Town of Stafford that the girlfriend who was texting with the other driver should be held liable.

Carmen Vega, of Le Roy, who was injured in the accident sued the family of Collin Crane,17, the other driver, who died as a result of the crash, and his girlfriend, Taylor Cratsley.

Genesee County Supreme Court Judge Emilio Colaiacovo dismissed Vega's claim in April 2017. The Appellate Division of the Fourth Judicial Department upheld that ruling.

"The court properly concluded that defendant had no duty to refrain from sending text messages to decedent," the appeals court wrote in its ruling.

A State Police investigation found that there was no evidence Crane tried to take evasive action after his car crossed the center line on Route 33 in Stafford, "suggesting that he was likely distracted."

An investor reported, "The cellular phone activity may have been the source of the distraction."

Vega's attorneys argued that Cratsley knew or should have known that Crane was driving and therefore should not have been sending him text messages.

Cratsley told police and later stated in an affidavit, that she was unaware Crane was driving at the time of the accident.

"Mrs. Cratsley added that often -- when the decedent was returning from work -- a family member would pick him up and drive him home," according to a court document. "Cratsley testified at her deposition that she never expected nor asked the Decedent to send her text messages or read text messages while driving. None of the text messages produced contradict Mrs. Cratsley's testimony."

Citing previous case law, the court said, "A defendant generally has no duty to control the conduct of third persons so as to prevent them from harming others, even where as a practical matter defendant can exercise such control."

Such a person, the court said, has no direct knowledge of what the driver is doing and less ability to control the actions of the driver.

"The same driver has complete control over whether to allow the conduct of the remote sender to create a distraction," the court wrote.

The text sender's actions, the court said, are as "innocuous" as a billboard by the side of the road, a sign outside a church, or a lemonade stand, all of which are intended to grab a driver's attention. To rule the text sender could be held liable would mean those responsible for these other distractions could also be held liable.

"We conclude," the court wrote, "the defendant owed no duty to the plaintiff to refrain from the conduct alleged, and therefore that she cannot be held liable for such conduct."

Photo: File photo.

There is a man at UMMC tonight who may live because a family residing on South Street Road in Pavilion acted fast to pull him from the wreckage of his truck after he apparently suffered a heart attack, performed CPR, and called 9-1-1.

"I looked out my kitchen window," Eileen Ostrander said. "I ask my son and my granddaughter, 'is it raining that hard or is there a fire?' We went the kitchen door and then we heard the tires spinning. It was still in gear."

They didn't realize at first that somebody might need their assistance.

"It took a second to realize what was happening," said her son, Joe Condidorio. "You know, a lot of people on four-wheelers, tractors, so we took a few steps and we looked at each other and we realized what was going on and we just sprinted toward the truck."

Ostrander said she used to be a track star but this time her son beat her to the truck.

The truck was wedged into a grove of pine trees on the other side of a field across the road from their house.

When they got to the blue pickup truck, it was still in gear, the man's foot was full-throttle on the gas, smoke was spewing from the back tires and the driver was slumped over the wheel.

Condidorio undid his seat belt, turned off the engine and slapped him gently on his face to see if he would respond. His daughter, Isabella, called 9-1-1.

"He was unresponsive," Condidorio said.

Ostrander, who has worked for HomeCare & Hospice and Crossroads House, felt for a pulse. There was none.

Condidorio pulled the man from the vehicle and into the field. Ostrander started CPR.

Often times, dispatchers must talk a person through CPR procedures but Ostrander knew what to do.

"Actually, when I had my children it was the best thing I ever could have done was to take the CPR course," Ostrander said. "Everyone should."

By the time medics arrived, the man's pulse had returned and an EKG showed he had suffered a heart attack. At the time he was transported by Mercy EMS to UMMC, he had a regular heartbeat.

Condidorio said what his mom did was amazing and the family pulled together in a team effort.

"She probably couldn’t have gotten him where I got him to," he said. "She took over from there, so it was a great team, and with my daughter calling 9-1-1, too."

(Initial Report)

A serious-injury accident is reported in the area of 9663 South Street Road, Pavilion, near the town line with Le Roy.

A person was ejected from the vehicle; CPR in progress.

Pavilion fire and Mercy EMS dispatched. Mercy Flight on in-air standby.

UPDATE(S) (By Billie) 8:34: p.m.: A landing zone for the helicopter is being set up.

UPDATE 9:11 p.m.: Residents in the area heard an engine revving; upon inspection, they found a truck wedged in a grove of pine trees, its driver passed out and unresponsive with his foot on the gas pedal, wheels spinning in place. His body had no pulse. A nearby resident arrived on scene, turned off the engine and pulled the victim out of the vehicle and onto the ground. That rescuer's mother, who is a nurse, was also there and performed CPR. The victim was subsequently taken via ground ambulance by Mercy medics to UMMC.

(Follow Up)

It's been 22 years since Guadalupe Hernandez was arrested on a burglary charge in the Town of Byron but just this past week an appeals court ruled his three-to-six-year sentence handed down in 2016 was "too harsh."

The sentence was reduced to one year.

Hernandez, 41, was first arrested in 1996. He failed to appear for his arraignment on the felony charge and was re-arrested in 2011. In November, he entered a guilty plea with a sentence cap of five years in prison. He then disappeared again -- in both cases, he reportedly left the area -- and wasn't re-arrested until 2016.

The Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department, agreed with the argument by Hernandez's attorney that the sentence was unduly harsh considering the nature of the crime.

"My understanding is that it may have been in part because of the nature of the burglary," District Attorney Lawrence Friedman said. "Apparently, there was a fight going on outside of a residence and, I believe, the defendant chased someone else into the residence and continued it, or did something, but entered with the intent to commit a crime.

"So it's not what you probably think of as your typical burglary. It wasn't someone breaking into someone's home to steal something. So that certainly may have been one of the factors weighed on appellate division finding this to be harsh."

The court rejected the defense contention that Hernandez wasn't properly warned that if he failed to appear in court he would lose his sentence cap, stating that since Hernandez didn't object in court he had failed to preserve that contention for court review.

Friedman said overturning sentences as too harsh is rare, primarily because most sentences are part of a plea agreement and the defendant clearly agreed to these terms.

Some years ago, Friedman's office started requiring defendants who enter a plea agreement to waive their right to appeal the sentence as a condition of the plea deal. Hernandez was convicted before that practice was established.

      Deputy Ryan Young

By the time Deputy Ryan Young arrived at the Log Cabin Restaurant in Indian Falls at 11 p.m. on April 11, he knew a customer had caused a disturbance in the restaurant and that the customer had fired at least two shots from a firearm.

As Young and other deputies arrived in the parking lot that Wednesday night, they heard another shot being fired.

Keith Kent, a 61-year-old logging company owner from Albion, spotted by deputies in the parking lot carrying a handgun, did not respond to verbal commands to drop his weapon.

At a press conference today about the shooting, First Assistant District Attorney Melissa Cianfrini said, "He began to advance in the direction of Deputy Young, raising and ultimately pointing his revolver at Deputy Young. Deputy Young fired several rounds and Mr. Kent was shot."

Kent was hit in his neck and grazed by a bullet across his back. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Following a month-long investigation by State Police -- that District Attorney Lawrence Friedman characterized as "thorough" -- a Grand Jury reviewed the evidence and returned what is known as a "no bill," which means the Grand Jury found no reason to charge Young with a crime.

Friedman said the Grand Jury ruled the shooting was justified.

While Friedman and Cianfrini are prohibited by law from discussing anything that happened during the Grand Jury hearing, they are free to discuss what the State Police investigation uncovered.

The narrative of events starts with Kent trying to talk with a woman at the bar of the Log Cabin.

"He was talking with the woman at the bar and she was not receptive, I guess you might say, to what he was saying to her," Friedman said. "He was asked to leave her alone and ultimately was asked to leave the bar and was removed from the bar under protest."

After he went outside, either patrons or employees or both continued to observe him as he walked to his truck.

By this time, a person at the Log Cabin had already called 9-1-1 and remained on the phone with an emergency dispatcher providing updates as "the situation quickly escalated," as Cianfrini put it.

Investigators were not able to determine if Kent retrieved a revolver from the truck or if he already had it on him when he left the bar. He was a valid permit holder for the revolver, Cianfrini said.

After reaching his truck, he started to walk back to the bar and fired two shots into the air.

"Patrons at the restaurant and employees went down into a basement and began to arm themselves with materials in the basement while hiding," Cianfrini said. "Mr. Kent did re-enter the restaurant and threats were made."

There is no evidence that Kent fired his revolver while inside the restaurant.

He walked back outside.

"He was given multiple directives by sheriff's deputies to drop his weapon," Cianfrini said. "He did not comply with those directives."

Young was armed with his duty AR-15. As Kent pointed his revolver at Young -- who was 50 to 80 feet away from Kent -- the deputy fired 15 shots, which did not empty his magazine, Cianfrini said.

No other deputies fired their weapons during the incident.

"I believe that the reason why other deputies may not have discharged their firearms was because of the concern that there may have been patrons in the restaurant area," Cianfrini said. "They weren't fully aware where the patrons or employees in the restaurant were, and so under their standing orders, they were not in a position where they could safely discharge their firearms."

The narrative of events was established by witness statements, body camera recordings, 9-1-1 recordings, and the available forensic evidence.

"What I can tell you about the body-worn camera footage is that this incident took place during the night," Cianfrini said. "It was dark. There was limited lighting. There were no body-worn camera recordings that directly caught the incident."

Friedman said, however, the recordings were useful to the investigation, especially the audio portions of the recordings.

Asked if Kent made any statements before being shot, Friedman said he doesn't believe he did.

Friedman expressed confidence that the shooting was justified.

"I would say, in addition, that throughout this very thorough investigation, interviewing of everyone who was there, there was never the slightest hint that would indicate that this was anything other than justified."

Previously:

• BREAKING: Grand Jury finds Log Cabin shooting death justified
• UPDATE: Deputy shoots and kills armed suspect at Log Cabin Restaurant
• Man shot and killed after pointing handgun at deputy outside Log Cabin Restaurant
• Man shot by deputy at Log Cabin was looking for a fight according to early reports from the scene
• Deputy Ryan Young is identified as officer involved in Wednesday night's shooting at Log Cabin Restaurant
• BPD officer who shot robber in 1977 says 'don't let others second guess you'
• Once all the evidence is in, DA will face decision on whether to have Log Cabin shooting case reviewed by grand jury

Dr. Keith Carlson, with Attica Veterinarian Associates, explains bovine artificial insemination to high school students today at Genesee Community College for Precision Ag Day.

Precision Ag Day provide students with an overview of the science and technology used in modern agriculture, including drones, GPS-guided tractors, and robotics.

Bradley Hirschman, a student at Pavilion, tries his hand at flying a glider with a camera attached toward a target.

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) honored cadets and officers from The United States Military Academy in West Point today in Albany. Hawley, who serves on the Assembly’s Veterans Affairs Committee, is a veteran of the Ohio Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserves.

“West Point Day is always a special celebration in Albany and we are so fortunate to have some of the finest recruits and soldiers in the world right here training in our state,” Hawley said. “As a veteran and son of a veteran, I know the great sacrifices our military members undertake and that drives me to be a strong advocate on their behalf in the legislature.

"Measures like free state park passes and fishing permits and reduced highway tolls are simple displays of gratitude we should be implementing for our veterans and active duty members. I enjoyed meeting the cadets and leadership of West Point today and wish them the best in their careers.”

Photo: Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) shakes hands with Brigadier General Cindy Jebb, 14th Dean of the Academic Board of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Dayne Burroughs sent in this photo of some pretty ominous looking clouds gathering over Batavia just before a bit of heavy rain hit this morning.

National Grid is reporting a brownout -- meaning low power availability -- in Downtown Batavia, roughly around the Bank and Main Street area.

Some 93 customers are affected.

Crews estimate full power will be restored by 5 p.m.

The Libertarian candidate for governor, Larry Sharpe, stopped at T.F. Brown's in Batavia on Monday and told about two dozen people who attended the breakfast that he has two main issues in his campaign: fighting corruption and returning more control to local governments.

Sharpe's plan for eliminating corruption is to either eliminate or make more accountable the state's various boards and commissions, to change the way infrastructure is funded, and reduce if not eliminate taxpayer funding for economic development.

"Forget the MTA or the Port Authority or Oasis or the Board of Regents or insert name here," Sharpe said. "All they are are boards that now people can be rewarded for being party loyalists. That happens all the time.

"Our current leader, King Andrew, he actually has received over eight hundred thousand dollars from the people he's put on boards for his campaigns."

Sharpe said these boards are unaccountable and impose edicts that people can't fight.

They also give Gov. Andrew Cuomo a layer of insulation. They allow him to say, "it's not me, it's the boards," he said.  And he's insulated from any charges of corruption with those authorities.

"That's why everyone around him goes to jail not him," Sharpe said.

Sharpe's plan for infrastructure, he said, will not only help eliminate corruption but it will help get more things funded.

Local businesses should be able to sponsor locks on the Erie Canal to help cover its $100 million annual price tag for upkeep and maintenance. RIT or some other school should release its students on a project to come up with hovercraft to transport people and goods on the canal, which would also help being a student in New York more exciting, to work on those kinds of projects.

"I also want to build whatever is the new Erie Canal," Sharpe said. "I don't know what that is. I want to talk about it. I want to become the marketer-in-chief so I can sell whatever the new Erie Canel is. Is that a new Google road? Is that driverless vehicle road or something like that? I'm OK with that. Let's do it."

Google, or some other company, Sharpe said, would pay for it.

Bridges, he said, should be paid for by private companies. He envisions sponsorships or naming rights, just like, according to him, companies do with sports stadiums now.

"The idea of sponsoring stadiums is working," Sharpe said. "It is successful people keep doing it all over the place. You keep seeing it even locally now, right?"

When somebody in the audience suggested a company could fail, Sharpe said, "yes they could." 

But he said, have you ever heard of a stadium named after a company failing or falling prey to corruption?

He said the current system for building and maintaining bridges is rife with corruption and cronyism. Turning the bridges over to companies through naming rights would solve those problems, he said.

"Now while you may not like the idea of some company having the naming rights for a bridge at least the company that has naming rights for the bridge, that company is responsible," Sharpe said. "Someone is actually responsible. Right? Someone is. If they can't do it, you fire them and let another company in there. It's fine. Someone is responsible."

(NOTE: When a company buys naming rights for a stadium, the company is just another advertiser and does not participate in the management of the stadium.)

Just as important to Sharpe as eliminating corruption, the candidate said, is returning control to local governments. 

Not only would he end unfunded mandates, he said, he would eliminate all mandates.

Mandates, he said, discourage people from participating in government because they have no control over how their money is spent, so they just give up.

"I get that the reason why so many people don't want to show up for their own government," Sharpe said. "They believe there's no value in doing it. And in many cases they're right. If you have a county or a township or a village where my perception of your budget is mandated why bother showing up?

"Your county your township or village is actually being run by all of you in Albany or Washington, so why show up? It makes no sense. We have a situation where only the four of us show up. So guess what? I guess you're chair, you're vice chair, you're a secretary and you're treasurer. That's it. No one else ever shows up unless they're mad. You've seen that happen. I'm sure you have. People don't show up unless they're mad."

And then when the only people local government officials deal with are people who are mad, Sharpe said, they stop taking them seriously and then make decisions behind closed doors.

Eliminating mandates would re-engage people in their local governments, he said.

He also wants to create a $500 tax credit that people can direct to charities of their choice, with at least half required to stay in the county of the taxpayer's residence.

His other local issue he wants to change is economic development. He believes only private money should support economic development.

"There's a problem that has been popping up in New York State and that is if there's a problem, how can we find a government program to solve it," Sharpe said. "That has been failing again and again and again and again and again. I like when money goes to a small business. I like when money goes into a community. I like when money goes into a town or a city. That's awesome. But how about it not being taxpayer money?"

David Olsen, chairman of the Genesee County Libertarian Party, asked Sharpe to discuss his views on the Second Amendment.

He started by noting that the Second Amendment is about more than a right to own guns. 

"It says 'the right to bear arms,' Sharpe said. "What does that mean? It's the right to defend yourself, whether that's a knife, a gun, whatever, it's the right to defend yourself."

He added that the First Amendment and the Second Amendment are interlocked and the Founders intended these two key rights to top the Bill of Rights because of their importance.

"The First Amendment is the most important amendment," Sharpe said. "I don't care who you are. Number one. They're all important freedoms and number one is the most important. If you don't have free association, you don't have a religion, you don't have a press, you don't have freedom of speech. If you don't have those basic freedoms, you don't have freedom. That's the number one overall.

"The rest all matter. That one is number one over all of them. Without that there's nothing. That's critical. What did they put right after that? The one that defends the first. They didn't wait for the right to bear arms to be 10. They made that two."

Sharpe said he thinks the SAFE Act is horrible and though he wouldn't have the power to repeal it, he would pardon the 1,000 or so people who have been convicted of SAFE Act violations so far and encourage law enforcement not to enforce it. He would also block any SAFE Act funding. 

As governor, he said, he will be accountable, not appointed boards and commissions.

"What I'm saying is when I'm governor, I'll make sure that every board, every issue, every concern is either under me, chief justice, the Assembly, someone will be responsible for every single thing to get it done," Sharpe said. "I won't be like, our current governor who sits here his last State and laments about how tough things are. Anybody happen to see his state-of-the-state?

"Oh, tough, bad spot, things are so bad -- [interruption] -- he lamented how bad things were. He's the governor for seven years. He's the governor for seven years. What are you lamenting about? It's you. You're the one responsible. It just randomly happened that things got bad in seven years? Come on. It's crazy."

A physical fight is reported at Route 5 and West Avenue, Pembroke, with traffic backed up.

Law enforcement is responding.

UPDATE 2:43 p.m.: The suspect vehicle has fled; westbound toward Route 77. It's an orange Nitro.

UPDATE 2:45 p.m.: The suspect vehicle has been spotted by a trooper.

UPDATE 2:45 p.m.: The vehicle has stopped.

The Batavia Society of Artists opened its annual spring show at the Richmond Memorial Library.

Tessa Lynn, a resident of Batavia, received Virginia Carr-Mumford Scholarship.

Lynn believes art is the culmination of all of human history and like art of the ancient past, she tries to focus on visual stories that may inspire a more considerate future. After attending Genesee Community College, she plans to pursue a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts. Eventually, she would like to illustrate books.

"My hope is to always keep creating art," she said. "I don't believe that there is ever a point where a creator should stop learning, even after years of practice and observation. My artist journey has only just begun."

Brian Kemp won first place in the member's competition.

Karen Crittenden, second place.

Third place went to Nicole Tamfer.